Tag: mailing

The dimensions of the window on a window envelope is very important these days. The window should have a slightly larger window than previously used with the PostNet bar-code.The larger window will meet the requirements for the Intelligent Bar-code, that the United States Postal Service requires in order to qualify for postal discounts on Standard A mail. Before ordering large quantities of envelopes, it is a good idea to let your mailer check to make sure that the envelopes you are ordering meet USPS specifications and that they will run on the mailers equipment.

If Burns Mailing & Printing is processing your statements and invoices, we will keep an inventory of all your envelopes and notify you when they a certain level is reached so that a new order may be placed.

June 19th, 2015

The dimensions of the window on a window envelope is very important these days. The window should have a slightly larger window than previously used with the PostNet bar-code.The larger window will meet the requirements for the Intelligent Bar-code, that the United States Postal Service requires in order to qualify for postal discounts on Standard A mail. Before ordering large quantities of envelopes, it is a good idea to let your mailer check to make sure that the envelopes you are ordering meet USPS specifications and that they will run on the mailers equipment.

If Burns Mailing & Printing is processing your statements and invoices, we will keep an inventory of all your envelopes and notify you when they a certain level is reached so that a new order may be placed.

When I started in printing, the type was being set on a Compugraphic machine, then it was waxed onto a board and then an image taken with a camera that was as big as my desk. Film was developed and then the film was stripped into flats and finally an image burned on a metal plate. Talk about labor intensive and it required a lot of skill. Today everything is controlled from our graphics department. They control not just design and specifications for Postal standards but also several pieces of our equipment, such as the computer to plate, our digital press and our paper cutter. Everything is programmed in the graphic department and sent to the various machines. It still requires a lot of skill but not as many people and it is much faster. It truly is golly, gee technology, or at least, it is to me.

Every time we are able to add a new technology in our business, it amazes me what all the equipment will do. I am still wowed by our new NeoPost DS-1200 inserter/addressing machine that runs a speeds of 12,000 per hour.

June 11th, 2015

A customer asked me one day, what is the biggest problem that you have in mailing. That was easy to answer, it is receiving bad data files from the customer. It is important to have a separate field for first name, middle name, last name, street address, state and zip code. Bad data will end up costing you money, if the mailer has to fix the data files. If the mailer has to fix the files, then the mailing could also be delayed.

If you are a non-profit organization, it is not a good idea to let volunteers enter data, because of the inconsistency. Having one person entering data correctly can save time and money.

June 10th, 2015

Don’t make the mistake of comparing apples to oranges. Digital printing, for small runs under 5000, and offset printing on a conventional press do not look the same. Digital toner sets on top of the paper and is more vivid, while printing ink is absorbed by the paper. So if you run a small job on a digital press and the next run is a larger number, do not expect them look the same.

June 9th, 2015

I was reminded today of a problem that we come across occasionally, and that is applying a coating on post cards, brochures etc. in the addressing area of the mail piece. We had a post card delivered to us from another printer and it had the coating in the addressing area. If applying a coating it should not be applied to the addressing area because the inkjet cannot lay down a barcode that will pass USPS standards. The ink beads up and that is a problem because all mail going into the bulk mail unit must pass a Merlin test. If the barcode fails Merlin, the postage will increase. How much? We do not know why the increase will be until it has been tested by Merlin standards.

However, if Burns is printing the post cards etc. we make sure that all USPS specifications are met before printing.

May 13th, 2015

MAY 31ST NEW POSTAGE CHANGES GO INTO EFFECT.
Hard to believe but first class stamps will remain the same at .49 each.
The meter price for first class is .485
International Global Forever Stamp – $1.20
Non-profit mail with a 5 digit match entered at origin – .143
Standard Mail with 5 digit mail entered at origin – .265

Other pricing on Extra Services
Price of PO boxes will increase 5.9%
Price of Certified Mail will increase 4.8%
Price of Return Receipt will increase 3.8%
Price of Registered Mail will increase 2.6%
Price of Insurance will increase 4.9%
Price of Collect on Delivery (COD) will increase 5.4%

No price change for Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail or Pickup on Demand.